The team at The Waterline Restaurant are celebrating the trifecta, after today’s announcement of the winners in the Beef 2018 Beef Excellence.

Winning the Award for A la carte Restaurant Best Beef Signature Dish for the third time in as many Beef Australia Events, is a real credit to our team, and to the quality of the grass fed Banana Station Beef that we serve exclusively at The Waterline, staying top of our game for a decade.

Bringing home a swag of awards, in the A la carte Restaurant Category, The Waterline Restaurant won

Best Beef Signature Dish
Our Signature Banana Station beef tataki with black garlic salsa and smoky ponzu

Best Low and Slow Beef Dish
24 hour sous vide Banana Station beef tongue, criolla salsa, brioche and tomatillo fluid gels

and highly commended for
Best Steak
Banana Station grass fed beef tenderloin, daikon galette, Keppel Bay bug stuffed marrow bone, parsley salad and bordelaise sauce
“The Best Beef Signature Dish award, is what we take most pride in”, says Matt Smith, Executive Chef. “Our Signature Banana Station Beef Tataki is always on the menu in some form, and it is a dish that is all about the flavour of the grass fed Banana Station Beef. The way we prepare it and the accompaniments are just enough to enhance the flavour and let the beef shine.”
The Waterline Restaurant team’s involvement in Beef Australias goes back 30 years to the inaugural Beef Expo ’88, when Libbie Wilson (Richard and Libbie Wilson are owners of both the Keppel Bay Marina and Waterline Restaurant and the Banana Station Group of properties) coordinated the social events for the expo, and ran a special beef promotion across 53 restaurants in Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast.
“I am pleased to see the involvement of local restaurants in the Beef Australia Event, this is what it should be all about.” says Libbie “We are the Beef Capital of Australia and our local restaurants should be setting the benchmark for the best beef dining experience in the country! That is what we were aiming when we established this event in 1988; getting restaurants to showcase beef on their menus and creating a real memorable experience for visitors to the region”
The Waterline has recently returned from representing Queensland as Queensland Best Tourism Restaurant at the Australian Tourism Awards.
“Our Banana Station Beef experience is a key part of our overall dining experience and what draws tourists to our restaurant” says Kylie Smith “We are located here on the coast right “where the reef meets the beef” and we are proud to serve grass fed local beef from our family’s Banana Station group of cattle properties exclusively at The Waterline Restaurant.”
The Waterline Restaurant and Keppel Bay Marina were built and opened in 1996 by Richard and Libbie Wilson. Daughter Kylie Smith is now General Manager and her husband Matt Smith Executive Chef of The Waterline.
Son, Mark Wilson and Daughter Annie Donoghue and their families operate the Banana Station group of properties in Central Queensland, supply Banana Station Beef exclusively to The Waterline Restaurant.
The award winning Banana Station Beef dishes are on the menu at The Waterline now, and right upto the Beef Australia Event. Watch this space for our special wine matched Beef Degustation featuring the award winning dishes during Beef Australia May 6-12.